Wednesday, October 6, 2021
A9
SPORTS
Enterprise cruises past Ione/Arlington, 51-6
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
ENTERPRISE — On
paper, it fi gured to be a
tight contest — maybe even
one Enterprise would be an
underdog in. On the fi eld, it
was the Outlaws’ most dom-
inant win in three years.
Gideon Gray rushed for
165 yards and three touch-
downs, and the Enterprise
football team piled up 597
yards of off ense to blast
Ione/Arlington at home Fri-
day, Oct. 1, 51-6.
“Coming into the game
they were, by the OSAA
rankings...ninth. I think
we were 20th,” head coach
Rusty Eschler said. “They
had just the week before
beat Pilot Rock. We talked
about it and said ‘they are
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Enterprise’s Gideon Gray, shown earlier this season against
Crane, rushed for 165 yards and three touchdowns in the
Outlaws’ 51-6 win over Ione/Arlington on Friday, Oct. 1, 2021.
going to come in here con-
fi dent.’ (We had) a very
strong showing, really dom-
inant performance. Prob-
ably our best game of the
year overall.”
Not only was it the best
game of the year for the
Outlaws, but arguably the
best in a few years. The
51 points was the fi rst
time Enterprise had scored
50 since defeating Imbler
50-12 in 2019, and the mar-
gin of victory was only
eclipsed the last three years
by a 58-8 win over Arling-
ton/Condon in 2018.
In addition to a big game
from Gray, EHS also saw
Trey Stewart rack up 82
yards and two scores. Ran-
som Peters added 62 yards
and a touchdown, and
Jackson Decker had 176
yards passing and added
one 49-yard touchdown
scramble.
And in a rarity in 8-man
football, Tyler Knapp was
a perfect 6-for-6 on extra
points and connected on a
26-yard fi eld goal.
“Very happy with the
defensive side of the ball.
Kids stepped up,” Eschler
said. “We didn’t have a
scouting report and kind of
went into the game cold.”
The coach also cred-
ited the play of the off en-
sive line, highlighting Tan-
ner Kesecker who fi lled
in for regular starter John
Howard.
“He did outstanding,”
Eschler said. “All the off en-
sive line blocked their butts
off . They’re the big reason
why we have that many
yards of rushing.”
The Outlaws (2-3 over-
all, 2-3 Special District
2-West) face Elgin on Fri-
Cougars denied by late Cove score
Wallowa also loses
quarterback Lute
Ramsden to an
injury in 34-28 loss
By RONALD BOND
Wallowa County Chieftain
COVE — Wallowa
appeared to be on the way to
nabbing a victory in a tight
back-and-forth
matchup
against Cove.
But in a rough fi nal min-
ute, the Cougars saw the
Leopards steal the win, and
saw their best player leave
with an injury.
Cove’s Patrick Frisch
scored the winning touch-
down with eight seconds
to play as the Leopards
escaped with their second
win of the season, topping
Wallowa 34-28 on Friday,
Oct. 1, in Cove.
“Kids fi rmed up, did a lot
of good things,” head coach
Jeremy McCulloch said.
“Down a lot of starters, (but
the) kids fought hard. That’s
what’s important.”
With less than a minute
to play, Wallowa forced a
fumble inside the fi ve-yard
line recovered by Saw-
yer Wentz that appeared it
would give the Cougars a
28-24 victory.
But Lute Ramsden, the
Wallowa
do-everything
quarterback and defensive
back, suff ered a leg injury
on the drive, forcing him out
when the Cougars took back
over on off ense. His status
moving forward is not yet
clear.
The ensuing snap went
over the head of Wentz, the
NORTH POWDER —
The Joseph volleyball team
earned what, to this point,
could be its biggest win of
the season.
The Eagles clawed their
way to a fi ve-set road vic-
tory over Powder Valley on
Thursday, Sept. 30, notch-
ing a 25-15, 25-12, 21-25,
23-25, 15-5 win.
“Girls were fi ring in the
fi rst two sets, then started
making some mental errors
in the next two sets (and)
also missed 12 serves,” head
Joseph forfeits due
to quarantine
The Joseph football team
was forced to forfeit its Fri-
day, Oct. 1, contest at Pine
Eagle due to having play-
ers in quarantine because of
COVID-19.
Head coach Duncan
Christman said the quaran-
tine was the reason the pre-
vious week’s contest against
Prairie City/Burnt River was
rescheduled to late Octo-
ber. A reschedule date didn’t
work, though, this time
around.
Joseph (3-1 overall)
hopes to be on the fi eld Sat-
urday, Oct. 9, when it hosts
Huntington for a 2 p.m.
kickoff .
Knapp
wins
fourth
straight
to start
season
Chieftain staff
Ronald Bond/Wallowa County Chieftain
Wallowa’s Cody Riverman, center, looks for running room against the Cove defense during a game Friday, Oct. 1, 2021, in Cove.
The Leopards scored late to steal a 34-28 victory.
backup quarterback, into
the end zone for a safety to
make the score 28-26, and
the free kick was returned
by Cove to the Wallowa 38
with 27 seconds to play.
Frisch threw two incom-
plete passes, but on third
down got loose on the right
side to reach the end zone
for the game-winning score.
Cove then recovered the
ensuing kickoff and was
able to kneel out the win.
“We lose (Ramsden) at
the end or were able to take
knees, but it is what it is. We
dressed 12 and ended with
11,” McCulloch said. “It’s a
tough game.”
Wallowa took the lead,
28-24, with 9:01 to play on
a three-yard scoring run by
Ramsden, part of another
big day by the junior, who
amassed 193 yards on 27
carries and scored twice.
He also completed 7-of-12
passes for 45 yards. Lucas
Hulse and Cody Riverman
also scored for the Cougars,
who fi nished with 299 yards
of off ense, including 254 on
the ground.
Ramsden intercepted a
pass from Frisch on the fi rst
play of the game to set up
the Cougars at the Leopards’
35, and Wallowa needed
just nine plays to get on the
board, with Riverman scor-
ing from fi ve yards out for
an early 6-0 lead just 5:27
into the game.
Cove evened the score
late in the fi rst when it
snuff ed out a Cougar punt
fake and, on the next play,
got a 29-yard touchdown
run by Quinn Hobbs.
Wallowa responded with
a 10-play drive that bled
into the second quarter and
took the lead back on Rams-
den’s fi rst TD rush of the
day, a scoring on a run of
fi ve yards.
Cove scored the next two
TDs, with David Creech’s
score from two yards out
helping the Leopards take an
18-14 lead at the half.
Each team had an empty
possession to open the third,
then traded touchdowns.
Hulse scored on a three-yard
run with 4:04 to play in the
third to put Wallowa ahead
22-18, but just six plays later
Nolan
Barton-Needham
found paydirt from 12 yards
out to put the Leopards back
ahead, 24-22.
Ramsden’s second score
returned the lead to Wallowa
and set up the dramatics at
the end.
The Cougars (1-2 overall,
1-2 Special District 3-East)
travel to Crane on Oct. 8.
Eagles top OOL rival Badgers in fi ve, stay unbeaten in league
Chieftain staff
day in their fi nal regu-
lar-season home game.
coach Jill Hite said. “They
gathered back up, got the
fi nal set and went back to
(playing) fundamentally.”
Joseph followed that with
a road sweep of Pine Eagle
on Friday to run its winning
streak to 12 in a row and
stay undefeated in Old Ore-
gon League play.
In the win over the Bad-
gers, Cooper Nave turned in
her top match of the season,
tallying 23 kills and adding
six aces. Molly Curry had
13 kills, Emma Orr added
seven kills and Aimee Mey-
ers was the team leader in
assists and added four aces.
Stats and scores were not
provided for the Pine Eagle
match.
The Eagles (16-3 over-
all, 7-0 OOL) hosted Wal-
lowa on Tuesday, then travel
to Elgin on Friday, Oct. 15.
Enterprise returns
to the court
Enterprise fi nally got on
the court after 2½ weeks
without a match.
The Outlaws dropped
their Blue Mountain Confer-
ence opener to Weston-McE-
wen on Thursday, Sept. 30,
Fall into
losing 25-15, 25-21, 25-21,
then played two matches
Saturday in John Day, win-
ning one and losing one.
EHS fell to Grant Union,
25-17, 25-10, 25-14, then
defeated Pilot Rock, 19-25,
26-24, 25-16, 25-18, for its
fi rst league win.
Against Weston-McE-
wen in the Outlaws’ fi rst
match since Sept. 11, Maci
Marr had six kills, Rilyn
Kirkland had four aces and
Rosie Movich-Fields had
eight digs.
“It was our fi rst match
back after a bye weekend
followed by a long, unex-
pected quarantine period,”
head coach Lisa Farwell
said. “We weren’t happy
with our play overall, but
considering we’d had one
practice together, it was
good to be playing again as
a team. We have a lot of vol-
leyball in the coming week,
so hopefully we’ll get back
into the groove we had going
before our long hiatus.”
Stats were not available
for Saturday’s matches, but
Farwell said the Outlaws
See Volleyball, Page A10
BAKER CITY —
Make it four wins in four
races for Zac Knapp.
The senior standout
for the Wallowa Valley
cross-country team dom-
inated again, winning
the Baker Invite on Fri-
day, Oct. 1, with a time
of 16:15.34, his time the
best in the fi eld by more
than a minute.
Knapp’s
dominant
win helped lead the Out-
laws to another team vic-
tory. Wallowa Valley fi n-
ished with 32 points as a
team, outpacing Union/
Cove (54 points) which
took second, and far
outpacing
third-place
Parma, Idaho (97 points).
Knapp was one of fi ve
Wallowa Valley runners
in the top 15, and six in
the top 20.
Joining him was
Bayden Menton in sec-
ond with a time of
17:28.51. Ian Goodrich
took ninth in 18:21.69,
Levi Ortswan was 11th
in 18:41.85, and Weston
Wolfe rounded out the
Outlaws’ top fi ve in 13th
in 18:46.94.
Chase Homan was
18th in 19:09.13, and
Andrew Nordtvedt was
31st in 20:15.46.
The girls team for
Wallowa Valley took
sixth with 139 points.
Weiser, Idaho, won with
53 points, and was one of
four teams under 100.
Iona McDonald led
the Outlaws in 27th with
a time of 24:22.20, just
ahead of Maddie Nor-
dtvedt, who was 29th in
24:36.73.
Lannie
Stonebrink
was 35th in 25:57.58,
Michaila Caine was
40th in 26:32.52 and Isa-
bella Brann was 42nd in
26:36.89.
Wallowa
Valley
returns to action Thurs-
day, Oct. 7, at the Mus-
tang Invite in Heppner.
Come see the
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